Assembly and mounting of a reflective film on a composite structure
AssigneeAlliance Spacesystems, LLC
InventorMatthew Kruse
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of metallizing a surface of a structure, and in some embodiments a mirror produced by such method, by the steps of providing a composite support structure; providing a release liner including a metallic layer having a thickness between 1 and 5 microns on a surface thereof; situating the release liner against the surface of the composite support structure so that the metallic layer of the release liner is placed in direct, physical contact with the surface of the support structure; and removing the release liner so that the metallic layer remains attached to the surface of the support structure.
Claims12
A method of metallizing the surface of a structure to form a mirror for use on a space vehicle, the method comprising:
- providing a composite support structure having a surface, wherein the composite support structure comprises a fiber selected from the group of consisting of:
- carbon fiber, glass fiber, polyamide fiber, stainless steel fiber, copper fiber, boron fiber, and amorphous metal fiber;
- providing a release liner comprising a polymer sheet and a metallic layer having a thickness between 1 and 5 microns on a surface of the polymer sheet;
- situating the release liner against the surface of the composite support structure so that the metallic layer is in direct, physical contact with the surface of the composite support structure;
- and
- removing the polymer sheet so that the metallic layer remains as a reflective metal film attached to the surface of the composite support structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.